A Different Twilight
by loverXxXgirl
Summary: Have you ever imagined yourself in Bella's shoes during twilight? Would you have done things differently? I know I would have, so I came up with this story and a few characters to replace Bella. This is my first fanfic so please be nice.
1. First Sight

**Chapter Notes!**

**All rights belong to SM since these are mostly her characters.  
The story starts off pretty much the same as _twilight_ but i promise it'll change soon enough**

**Kat:)**

* * *

**1: First Sight**

It was only fifty-two degrees when I left my house for what could be the last time, and hurried into my mother's mini-van. It was pretty much a typical October morning in Marquette, Michigan.

I was finally leaving the stupid city, a dream that I'd had since I was a young girl. Who the hell cared if it was to move to an even smaller town? At least in Forks people wouldn't have a five month long winter.

"Is it something I did?" my mother, Ann, asked softly as she backed out of the driveway.

I knew she would have asked the question sooner or later. "No Mom, I just want a little bit of space, that's all."

"An entire country's worth of space?" she joked, laughing nervously as tears started brimming over her dark brown eyes.

I gave her a small smile and gently touched her hand.

"Is it because I'm getting married?"

_Kind of_. But I didn't dare tell her because I knew it would only break her.

"Of course not," I answered instead. "I just want you to be happy." And I _did_, I just didn't want to have to leave behind the friends I had worked so hard to get just to move away junior year and have to make a new group of friends. So I was moving out to Forks, Washington to live with my former best friend Savannah. I wasn't related to her, or her mother, in any way at all, but she and I were closer than any two sisters could ever be. "I was already planning on moving out to Washington to live with Savanna for college anyway, we've talked about it before," I added, just to calm my mother's nerves.

Ann sighed shakily and pulled out a cigarette and brought it up to her lips before turning on the heater and rolling her window down just enough for the smoke to escape. "Don't lie to me Cassie," she warned. "I'm not stupid. I know you don't get along well with Allan's kids."

She _did _have a point. Having to live with the two immature son of a bitches did in fact add to my decision to finally pack up and leave, but it was mostly because I wanted-_needed_-my best friend at a time like this.

"They aren't the reason I want to leave," I told her as I fiddled with the sleeve of the hoodie I was wearing.

"You don't have to do this," she whispered hoarsely as tears started to well up in her eyes again.

I didn't reply, I just couldn't. I didn't have the words to comfort her, or to explain my feelings to her...or anyone else for that matter. So the rest of the ride to the airport was spent in a very tense silence.

"You'll tell Savannah I said hi?" It came out as a question.

I shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly and nodded. "Thank you for letting me go," I mumbled, raising my eyes to meet hers. They were darker than I'd ever seen them-like two large black coals in a snow bank as she'd once put it-and mine probably mirrored hers at the moment.

"I want you to be happy too Cassie," she replied with a forced smile as she handed me my carry-on. It was a simple brown back pack filled with an extra sweatshirt, a drawing pad, a couple books, and my iPod as well.

"And I thank you for it."

"I'll see you soon," she told me, her eyes shining with fresh tears. "You can come back as soon as you want. I don't care what I'm doing at the time, I'll drop everything and arrange for your flight back."

_That won't ever happen_. I thought sadly.

"Don't worry about me Mom," I urged. "This will all be a good experience for me, I love you."

She rushed forward and hugged me tightly, and just for a moment I rethought my decision to leave as I was surrounded by her warmth and love.

Was I being selfish by leaving her in order to keep myself happy and sane? Could she ever forgive me if she ever found out why I was going?

But the sound of her cell phone chirping in her back pocket only solidified my choice to go.

I turned to kiss her cheek and then swung my bag up onto my shoulder and boarded the plane, leaving my mother to deal with her new and improved life.

I pulled out my plane as soon as I was settle on the small plane and quickly sent a text to Savannah before I had to shut it off.

**hey, just got on the plane. **

**I'll drolly be there in about 8 or 9 hours or so.**

**love ya, **

**~C**

It was about a two hour flight from Marquette to Chicago, and then about another four hours to get to Seattle, and then an hour on a small plane to get to Port Angeles where Savannah would be waiting for me to bring me to my new home.

Savannah was leaning against a far wall with two coffees in her hands, waiting just like I knew she would be as I stumbled off the plane.

She had bleached her hair again and it hung over her shoulders, covering up the logo on her black zip-up hoodie. Somehow, she had managed to get quite a nice tan in a city that was constantly covered by clouds. And from the looks of it, she had grown a large rack of boobs since the last time I'd seen her in the seventh grade. She certainly had more curves that I did too, but they looked good on her. On my slim frame they'd probably just look out of place and weird.

"You're late," she said as she pushed herself away from the wall, her light green eyes sparkling with amusement.

I bit my lip, fighting a smile. "Um yeah, the plane-"

She rolled her eyes and laughed, cutting me off. "I meant by a few years, silly."

I didn't get it a first, but then I did and I giggled along with her as we embraced like two sisters who'd been separated for three long years. And that's how long it'd been too, exactly three years.

Three years since we'd laughed together.

Three years since we'd cried together.

Three years since we'd actually seen and held the other.

"God I missed you," Savannah murmured, her voice sounding thick like she was going to start crying.

I didn't doubt it, she was always the emotional one in our friendship.

"I missed you too," I replied earnestly. Text messages and phone calls didn't compare to actually being with her, they were just too different.

"Your hair is so long and pretty," Savannah said with a sigh, pulling back to play with a few long, brown locks of hair from the top of the head that nearly reached the middle of my back. "I'm so jealous."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "_Why_?"

"Because I don't even know my real hair color anymore."

"That's because you've dyed it so many times," I teased.

"Very funny smarty pants," she laughed, handing me one of the drinks before she went to retrieve the two suitcases I'd brought with me.

Forks was supposed to be a bit warmer than Marquette, so I didn't bring much of my winter wardrobe; instead, I had saved up some money and had gotten myself a few pairs of shorts and some T-shirts. That all fit into one suitcase, the other was filled with books and some art supplies.

I helped Savanna carry out my two bags to her rusted old red Chevy truck, and then settled into the passenger seat.

"My mom signed you up for school a few weeks ago," she said in a conversational tone as she got in on the driver's side. "I had her put you in a few advanced classes though."

I let out a groan. "_Savannah_."

"What?" she asked innocently as she shifted the car into reverse. "You're smart, you need to be challenged or school is just going to be boring."

"Yes, but I would still like to make it through school without slaughtering my GPA," I pointed out.

"_Please_, you're a fucking genius and you know it. Quit being so modest, it's _totally_ not like you Cassie."

"If I fail, I'm blaming you," I warned.

But it didn't bother Savannah like it should've. "You can if you want, but I'm telling you now that it isn't going to happen," she replied confidently.

We exchanged a few more comments, explaining to each other what had changed in our lives, but that was pretty much it for conversation. I stared out my window, taking in all of the beautiful colors while enjoying the comfortable silence that settle between us. Everything here was green, which came as a relief. I liked the color better than the white I remembered from back home.

We made it back to Savannah's house in nearly an hour and a half, but we'd be alone for about another hour or two before Tammy and Rick-her parents-came back home. She lived in a medium two-story house, with four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Her parents had supposedly cleaned out the bedroom facing the north, over looking the patch of woods that the houses on the street were surrounded by, for my arrival a few weeks back.

We carried my two bags up the steep set of stairs and into my new bedroom.

"I redecorated it for you," Savannah announced as we hauled the bags into the room.

The walls had been painted a very light-almost white-gray color, which had been splatter painted with the colors of the rainbow. There was a full size bed pushed up against the wall next to the large window. The curtains were a light blue and the comforter was the same blue with Hello Kitty all over it.

A full length mirror had been nailed into a wall between the dresser and my new closet space, and a desk had been set up with a small lap top and printer. Off to the side of the room, an easel was sitting there, calling me to go and draw.

I turned to my best friend, grinning like a fool, and pulled her into a tight hug. "I love it," I told her. I didn't care about color or if things matched, and Savannah knew this. My room was all about comfort, which would be how I would've decorated it.

She hugged me back, dropping my bag carefully, and then stepped back. "I've got to go pick up Noah from the church daycare, but I'll be back," she said, smoothing my hair back. "Why don't you take this time to get settle in and then I'll fix us all dinner when I get back, alright?"

I nodded and brought the suitcase with my clothes up to my bed to start unpacking.

"See you in a few," Savannah called out over her shoulder as she left the room and then the house altogether.

After I had finished putting my clothes away into the dresser and closet, I grabbed my bag of bathroom supplies (toothbrush, floss, shampoo, tampons, ect.) and brought it down the hall to the bathroom upstairs. Savannah and I would share the bathroom upstairs since both of our bedrooms were on the upper level of the house, while her parents and younger brother would most likely use the downstairs bathroom since their bedrooms were all downstairs.

Once I had taken over half of the medicine cabinet, I closed it and took a quick look at myself in the mirror.

I looked a lot like my mother did when she'd been my age, or so people had told me. Now she was getting a few grays in her short dark hair, and she was always tan whether it was summer or not. I had her freckles, her dark eyes and hair, and her straight nose, but I was paler and my lips were a tad bit fuller than hers.

_I don't know where people get the idea that we look alike. _I thought as I poked the freckles that ran over the bridge of my nose from beneath my eyes.

Shaking my head, I took a hair tie from my wrist and pulled my hair off my neck and up into a messy bun.

"Tomorrow's gonna be a long day," I mumbled under my breath as I stepped out of the bathroom and walked down into my bedroom to wait for Savannah.

That night I didn't sleep well; in fact, I never was able to sleep Sunday nights.

I tossed and turned restlessly all night only to wake up seven minutes before my alarm.

Savannah hurried inside my room only a full minute after my alarm had actually gone off, and turned on all of my lights before jumping onto my bed next to where I was laying.

"Are you ready for your first day of school?" she asked excitedly.

I moaned into my pillow, blinking against the bright artificial lights.

"C'mon, you're gonna _love _it here. It's quiet, peaceful-"

"You told people about me, didn't you?" I guessed.

Savannah jumped down from my bed and ran over to my closet, ignoring me. "What do you want to wear for your first day?"

"_Savannah_."

"Okay, okay. Maybe I told a few people," she allowed.

My eyes narrowed. "How many?"

She turned around with a pair of dark skinny jeans and a blue T-shirt, biting her lip. "Maybe three...maybe thirty."

"Savannah!"

"Shh, you can't wake up the whole house," she hushed, placing a finger to her lips.

"This is going to be hell, you _know_ I hate attention." I clutched at my hair, something I did when I was stressed out.

"Hey, stick with me and everything will be okay," she whispered reassuringly as she placed my clothes for the day on the foot of the bed. "I promise," Savannah added before she skipped down the hall to get herself ready.

Not even an hour later, the two of us were piling into her old red truck and heading off to school.

"I don't know _why_ you brought shorts," Savannah said, rolling her eyes. "It really isn't much warmer here."

I shrugged indifferently. "_I _think it is. In Marquette there's already frost."

"Yeah, I guess," she agreed as she turned into the school parking lot.

She parked the truck close to the main school building, no doubt to keep us as dry as possible, and cut off the engine. "Tammy gets really involved in this school, just so you know, mostly because my grades are so low," she warned. "So don't be surprised if a few teacher know of your arrival. This place is pretty small anyway.

I nodded in understanding, smiling at her apologetically before following Savannah into the main office.

"Hey Peggy," Savannah greeted the plump woman from behind the counter as we entered the small building.

She looked up in surprise and then smiled when she saw Savannah. "How can I help you today Miss Marlow?"

Savannah gestured to me. "This is Cassidy Swan, my best friend. She prefers to be called Cassie though."

Peggy gave me a warm smile and stood up to shake my hand. "Hello Cassie, what can I do for you today?"

"Um, I'm new here." _Isn't that enough of an explanation?_

Savannah rolled her eyes and stepped forward to take charge, just like she always did. "She needs her schedule and a map of the buildings so her sorry ass doesn't get lost since I can't lead her around 24/7."

Peggy gave her a stern look, but her smile remained in place. "Language Miss Marlow," she scolded as she leaned over her desk and retrieved the pieces of papers from a filing cabinet. "Here you go." She handed me the papers. "That blue one needs to be signed by your teachers, and then brought back at the end of the day, alright?"

I nodded and we thanked her before scurrying back outside and into the dry truck.

"Gym?" I asked in surprise.

Savannah raised her hands in defense. "Most of the electives you got were all of the leftovers."

"Well I guess that what I get for coming late."

She laughed quietly and elbowed me in the side playfully. "You haven't changed much."

My brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Your still as moody as ever," she teased.

I elbowed her back, only harder. "Every girl has a certain time when they're moody," I said as I zipped up my jacket and pulled the hood over my head and stepped out of the truck.

"Where are you going?" she called out after me.

I glanced at my schedule, trying to keep it out of the rain. "Apparently English," I replied before hurrying across the lot to my first class.

Savannah hadn't been kidding when she said teachers would know me. I didn't have to introduce myself to my first teacher because apparently, Tammy was quite the gossiper.

"You can sit in the back Cassidy," the mad said, scratching at his reseeding hairline.

I nodded and grabbed a text book before sitting the far back and waiting for the class to finally begin.

As students started to file into the building, I was instantly met wit curious eyes and I even heard them start to whisper about me.

"I heard she was kicked out of her old school because she was a drug dealer," one guy whispered, while the guy he was talking to looked back at me and _totally _stared right at my chest.

I folded my arms in response.

"I heard that her mom sent her here because she got pregnant," a girl with platinum blond hair said a little _too_ loudly in a nasally voice.

My eyes widened in disbelief. _Did that girl really just...? Ugh, I would _so_ knock in that pretty little face of hers if I could_.

"She isn't even related to anyone here," the girl next to the blond replied.

"I think Savannah's family took her in," a blond boy piped in.

_Trust me, I'm _really_ not this interesting_. I thought as I sank back into my chair and pulled my head phones up through my shirt and switched on my iPod before I pulled out a notebook and began sketching disturbing images of the stupid blond bitch and her friend and the different ways they could die.

_"I know you'll come in the night like a thiefBut I've had some time alone to hone my lying techniqueI know you think that I'm someone you can trustBut I'm scared I'll get scared and I swear I'll try to nail you back up(everyone now)So do you think that we could work out a psalmSo I'll know it's you and that it's over so I won't even try..."_

_(Jesus Christ __**by **__Brand New)_

A boy with mild acne problems and black hair leaned over my desk and pulled out one of my ear buds with shaky fingers. "Class is over," he informed me.

I lazily lifted my eyes from my drawings to his, waiting to see what'd he'd say.

"Are you really pregnant?" was all he asked.

Everyone within a three seat radius had turned to look at us, awed by this boy's bravery.

I raised one eyebrow, challenging him. "Do _you _think I'm the type to get pregnant?"

His cheeks turned pink. "Um, I...no?"

I laughed humorlessly and rose from my seat. "I'm-"

"Cassidy Swan, I know," he cut in, his cheeks darkening further. "I sit with Savannah at lunch," he explained quickly. "She's been talking and bragging all week."

Now it was my turn to blush, causing my calm, cool demeanor to shrivel up and die. "I prefer to be called Cassie."

"She said you did," he murmured. "I'm Eric by the way."

I nodded slowly and gathered my bag up from the floor, and shoved my notebook inside it. "Nice to meet you."

"So where's your next class, Cassie?" he asked.

I checked my schedule. "I'm with Jefferson in building six for Government."

"I'm headed that way, I'll show you if you want...?" He left the question open, waiting for my decision.

"Please," I replied, smiling politely.

We grabbed our jackets and I had Mr. Mason sign my blue slip before we headed out into the icy rain, which had picked up quite a bit since this morning.

"Those pictures you were drawing," Eric began, grinning at his thoughts, "they were pretty hilarious. I wish you'd shown them to Lauren, I think it would've been even better to see her reaction."

I laughed along with him. "Lauren...is that the name of the bitch I drew?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she's mean to everyone. I can't believe she said that though, that's just a low blow for anyone. And none of them should be worried about why you came here anyway, it's nobody's business but yours and Savannah's." Eric stopped at the door I was guessing I was supposed to go through.

"Thank you for understanding," I said sincerely. "I'm glad _somebody_ does."

"I won't lie," he mumbled, "I _am _curious-as is everyone else-but it's your shit so _you _decide who knows and who doesn't."

"Thank you," I repeated before walking into the small building.

The rest of my classes flashed by in a blur. The names and faces I learned had no meaning to me, so I didn't remember most of them. I ignored the rumors and Lauren's clique that followed her around like lost puppies, always poking fun at others.

By the time lunch rolled around, I had completely mellowed out. Savannah met me at the door of my French class and then led me into the cafeteria to eat with her group of friends.

I sat between her and a blond haired boy named Mike who kept trying to get a peek down my shirt.

"Mike goes to my mom's movie store a lot," Savannah whispered under the buzz of conversation around us, her voice too low for anyone besides the two of us to hear. "He checks out porn all the time, so try and stay away from him, okay?"

My eyes widened in horror and I slid down the bench closer to her. The boy Eric, from my English class, laughed silently at my reaction.

It was there, sitting between my best friend and a perverted teenage boy, that I first saw them.

The five of them were so beautiful I thought I might cry. And I wasn't a crying person at all.

They weren't talking to anyone, not even each other, and they weren't eating anything from the trays in front of them. None of them were staring at me like I was some kind of display item like almost everyone else, so I felt no need to hide and look away. I could stare at them freely without having to worry about one of them staring right back at me.

The five looked nothing alike. There were three boys: one was muscled like a weight lifter, with dark curly hair and broad shoulders. Another was taller and a bit leaner than the first, but still muscular, and had shorter honey blond hair. The last boy was a lot less bulky than the others, and my attention was immediately drawn to his unusual, messy bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish looking than the other two sitting at the table with them.

The two girls were almost complete opposites. One was tall and blond with perfect curves-a total bimbo in my opinion-while the other was short and kind of reminded me of a fairy or pixie. Way shorter than my five feet four inches. Her hair was jet black and cropped short, pointing out in all directions.

And yet, through all of their differences, I found them all looking the same. Every one of them had perfect, flawless pale skin-something that wasn't usually found in a high school-and dark eyes despite the wide range in hair tones. I noticed that they also wore dark shadows beneath those hypnotizing eyes of theirs, almost like bruises or something. But it couldn't be from broken noses because everything about their bodies were perfect and angular.

As I continued to watch them shamelessly, the short girl rose from her seat with her tray-still untouched-and walked up to the garbage can swiftly, her eyes meeting my own briefly before she left the lunchroom altogether.

I gently elbowed Savannah to get her attention, and she looked up from the orange she had been focused on peeling with a plastic spoon. "Who are _they_?" I asked, inclining my head in the direction of the perfect human beings across the cafeteria.

No, the _couldn't_ be human. Humans had too many flaws, and they had none besides the shadows beneath their eyes.

I had a feeling Savannah already knew who I was asking about, but she looked up anyway. He looked at her suddenly, the thinner, more boyish one. He looked at y friend for less than a fraction of a second before his dark eyes flickered to mine.

But then he looked away, his face holding nothing of interest as he focused his attention on the table he sat at.

Savannah laughed nervously and set her orange down on her plate. "That's Emmett and Edward Cullen, and Jasper and Rosalie Hale," she explained under her breath, like if she spoke in a normal tone they would hear her. "The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live with Dr. Cullen and his wife."

"Well, they're...very nice-looking."

"Real eye candy," Savannah agreed. "But they're all _together_. Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and that little girl Alice."

My brow furrowed as I glanced back at their table. "Which one are the Cullens? They don't really look related."

She rolled her eyes at me. "That's because they're not. Dr. Cullen is like super young and shit and adopted them all. But the Hales-the blonds-are twins and have lived with Mrs. Cullen since they were like eight or something like that."

"Leave it to you to find out the dirt on people," I teased. "So have they always lived in Forks? You never really mentioned them to me before."

Savannah shook her head. "They moved down here from somewhere in Alaska about a year after I arrived."

As I continued to examine them, the youngest Cullen looked up again and met my gaze. This time, he looked curious when our eyes met. And there was a hint of frustration in his dark eyes as well.

Feeling my cheeks flush, I broke eye contact and turned to Savannah. "Which one's the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked as I ran my hand through my hair and peeked over at him from the corners of my eyes.

"Edward," Savannah answered, sounding uninterested. "I wouldn't try anything with him though if I were you, it's a waste of time. Lauren would eat you for breakfast if she heard you had feelings for him." She looked up at me, her green eyes meeting my brown ones. "I can't lose you to Lauren and her skanky followers Cassie," she told me seriously. "I don't want to go to jail at seventeen because I took revenge for you death, okay?"

"I don't believe in high school relationships Savannah, you _know_ that." I rolled my eyes and gave her a quick one-arm hug before I stood up. "I'll see you after school, and don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"I know, I know." She waved me off. "Forgive me for caring about my innocent best friend's well being."

"You're forgiven," I called back over my shoulder as I left the cafeteria.

I ran back to Savannah's truck to grab my bag, and then headed for Biology, my next class.

As I entered the classroom, I immediately noticed that all tables were full except for one. I recognized the boy by his unusual hair, and realized he was the one sitting next to that one and only open seat.

I hurriedly made my way down the aisle to introduce myself and get my slip signed by the teacher. Just as I passed_ him_, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. His eyes flashed to mine, bulging wide, and I met his hostile expression before nearly tripping over my own two feet.

No one had ever looked at me like that before. They'd never acted so..._cold_. Not even Lauren.

Mr. Banner signed the small blue slip and wordlessly handed me a book and then pointed to the only empty seat, giving me an apologetic look as I turned to walk back up the aisle.

I kept my head down as I set my book down on the black counter top and took my seat, but I could still feel his black eyes burning holes into my skull. I saw his perfect posture change from the corners of my eyes, and I saw him move so that he was on the extreme edge of his chair, leaning away from me as far as the chair would let him go.

"Dick," I muttered under my breath.

He whipped his gorgeous face away from me, his nostrils flaring in anger.

Embarrassed at the fact that he might just have caught me, I let my hair fall over my left shoulder, creating a dark curtain between us, and did my best to focus on what Mr. Banner was saying.

But I had already learned about cellular anatomy back in my freshman year at Marquette Senior High, so I found no distraction in his lecture.

I pulled out my notebook, trying not to stir the air too much between us as I did because each time I moved Edward seemed to get even angrier and more pissy.

I couldn't stop myself when I opened my notebook to fresh page, I just _had_ to look at him. He was too perfect-even while he was angry-for the artist in me to ignore him. I wanted to paint his perfect form and his dark eyes as he glared at me.

He hadn't relaxed the tiniest bit since I'd sat down; if anything, he'd tensed up even further.

He had his hand on his right leg, clenched into a tight fist, causing the tendons to stand out from under his smooth, pale skin. He had the sleeves of his white long-sleeved shirt pushed up to his elbows, revealing a hard and muscular forearm. He wasn't as sight looking when he wasn't next to his brothers.

I met his angry eyes again, adding their black depths to my memory for later.

_I can't draw him here, it'll have to wait until later_. I told myself as I turned away from the beautiful, dangerous boy again.

The class dragged on longer than all the others, and I found myself fighting the urge to fidget under Edward's stare. I couldn't understand why he was so angry with me.

Did he think I was some crack head with a baby on the way like the others did? Were there more rumors that I'd missed? Or did he see straight through to my boring, self-absorbed self?

Panic closed in on my throat at the thought and I felt my breathing pick up while Edward remained unchanged, and not breathing beside me.

_God _please_ let him think of me as a drug using whore_. I prayed, clenching my eyes closed.

I reopened my eyes after a few seconds and flinched away when I saw his fist tighten up further, and sank deeper into my chair.

At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump and nearly fall to the floor. Edward Cullen was out of his seat faster than I even thought possible, with his books cradled delicately to his chest in one arm, and he was out of the building before anyone else-including myself-had gotten the chance to stand.

I sat frozen to my chair, my gaze focused on the door he had left through.

Suddenly, my own anger seemed to flare up. He was being so mean and cruel, and he didn't even know me! I'd expected it from Lauren, but this boy? He'd sat with his family at lunch, safely out of the clutches of the evil skanks, and he seemed quiet from far away. But _now_...well, I knew that I'd be giving him a piece of my mind when I saw him again.

"Cassie Swan, right?" a familiar male voice asked.

I looked up and was met with the porno pervert from lunch. He had a baby face and spiky pale blond hair.

I swallowed. "Uh, yeah."

"I'm Mike, I sat next to you at lunch."

I nodded once. "Hi, Mike."

"Do you need some help finding your next class?"

I narrowed my eyes at the lab table. "I'm headed to the gym, I think I can find it on my own," I replied, hoping he'd just leave me alone with my rage. He might've been a perv, but he wasn't the only one that I'd ever met, and I knew how to deal with them. But I'd feel bad if I lashed out on him for no reason just because _Edward_ had pissed me off.

"Well that's my class too," he said cheerfully. "We can walk together."

I forced out a smile, which was more like a grimace, and collected my belongings before following him outside.

"So what'd you do to get Edward's panties all bunched up and twisted?" he asked casually as we walked quickly across campus.

"I didn't say anything to him," I mumbled in response.

Mike held the door open for me and lingered by my side instead of going to the dressing room. "I've never seen him like that before," he admitted. "But he's just weird all around so it doesn't really surprise me that he'd act so strange around a pretty girl like you."

I didn't know if I should've been flattered or thoroughly creeped out.

"Um, thanks?" I gave him a small smile before leaving him and walking into the girl's locker room.

The gym teacher found me a uniform, but didn't require me to get involved in any of the activities for the day. So I just watched instead, figuring it'd be safer for everyone, and drew some quick sketches of the people around me playing until the bell rang.

I walked slowly to the office at the end of the day, and once again I questioned my decision.

I could be at home, my _real_ home, right now and helping my mother plan her wedding. Did I really want to do that though?

The answer was simple, of _course_ not. But anything was better than being called trash and having to deal with hostile students.

I gritted my teeth as my thoughts were filled with Edward's death glares as I roughly pushed through the office door, my hand clenched around the blue slip of paper I had to return.

"Stupid, gorgeous, asshole," I hissed under my breath as I walked straight up to the counter.

It was then that I realized Peggy and I weren't the only two in the small room. Not even two feet away from me stood Edward Cullen.

His back stiffened and he turned slowly to glare at me with hate-filled eyes.

Panic closed in on me again, causing the hairs on my arms to rise up from my skin.

He quickly turned back to Peggy. "Never mind," he said hastily, in an attractive voice. "I can see that changing my schedule will be impossible. Thank you for your time anyway." He turned on his heel gracefully and stalked back out into the rain, never looking back at me again once.

I frowned and handed Peggy the blue slip.

"How did your first day go, dear?" she asked as she filed it away.

_Horrible_.

"Fine, couldn't have been better," I lied. I was good at lying, so it didn't take much for me to convince her.

Peggy smiled. "That's wonderful news, Forks has such a great school system. Everyone's so nice..." She continued talking, but I was already gone.

I ran, faster than I ever had before, back to Savannah's truck where she was waiting for me, the engine already running.

She opened her mouth to speak, but one pained look from me shut her up.

"I'm sorry," I heard her murmur before she backed out and sped back to the empty house I now was forced to call home.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked as we pulled into her driveway.

I ignored her and picked my bag up from the floor. "I have homework," I lied.

"Cassie," she started, but I was already gone. I heard her door slam as I ran up the porch steps and into the house. "Cassie come back!" Savannah called out.

A few angry tears escaped and I brushed them away and locked myself in my bedroom.

With new found rage, I blasted my stereo to drown out the pounding of Savannah's small fists on the door, and turned to the easel in the far corner of my room.

* * *

**Thanks for anyone who reads! Please make sure and leave me a comment (if you feel it's good enough, that is).**

**This is my first fanfic and comments (even if they're bad) will boost my confidence so...yeah. **

**Catch ya on the flip side,**

**Kat:)**


	2. Open Book

**Chapter Notes!**

**Ok, so I'm sure anyone who's read this has noticed the similarities between the two stories...but i PROMISE that things will start to change. **

**All rights belong to the artist of the song and SM**

**See ya on the other side,**

**Kat :)**

* * *

**2: Open Book**

"It's..." Savannah trailed off as she watched me paint, munching on Rocky Road ice cream.

"Don't," I warned.

"You're angry," she murmured, laying back against my pillows.

"Livid," I corrected automatically.

"But _why_?" she asked, twirling the spoon in her fingers. "I thought we had a lovely day."

I scoffed, shaking my head as I dipped my paint brush into a rich black color. "Savannah, what did we agree to earlier?"

"That I could only come in here if I didn't talk," she replied quietly.

"And what are you doing now?"

"Talking."

I looked back at her, raising my eyebrows with a small smile.

She huffed and rolled over onto her stomach, mumbling profanities into my pillows.

"Girls," Tammy called from behind the door, "dinner's ready."

Savannah quickly threw the pint of ice cream into the trash and stood up. "Okay mom, we're on our way down."

At the sound of her mother's retreating footsteps, Savannah grabbed me by my upper arm and yanked me out of the room and down the hall to our bathroom. "Clean yourself up girl, you're a mess," she told me flat out before closing me inside the room.

_What the hell is she talking about?_

I looked at my hands and then looked at my reflection in the mirror. It was...frightening.

My wavy brown hair was tangled and held smears of white and red in it, and my hands had managed to look like I'd been painting them and not a canvas. There was a long line of black down my left cheek as well, and my clothes were completely wrecked.

_At least now I've got new painting clothes_.

I rolled my eyes at my thoughts and did my best to wash off all of the paint from my skin. I didn't really bother to try and fix my hair, I just gathered it up into a tangled, messy pony tail and headed downstairs for dinner.

Tammy hugged me tightly as I entered the dining room and gently kissed the top of my head. "I never got to thank you properly for taking care of my daughter in her younger years," she murmured, brushing my bangs from my face. "I don't know who she would've turned out to be if it wasn't for you Cassie."

She was a wonderful woman, but I didn't really see the resemblance between Savannah and Tammy.

Tammy barely reached 5'2" while Savannah was nearly as tall as I was. Her mother had shoulder length light brown hair, but I didn't know Savannah's natural hair color. In all the eleven years I'd known her, she'd always bleached her hair. There were dark roots sometimes, but never long enough to make out an exact color. In fact, the only things they shared were their pale green eyes and hour glass shaped figures.

I laughed silently and pulled away from Tammy to sit next to her daughter.

Rick opened up a large family size cheese pizza box and served the four of us each our own slices and then got himself one two.

"Thank you Lord for bringing us this new family member, we are pleased to have her in our home," he said, bowing his head low. Savannah folded her hands in front of herself so I did the same. "She has been nothing but kind to my step daughter, so I thank you for blessing us with her presence. Amen."

"Amen," we all murmured.

My cheeks flushed and I dipped my head, biting into the pizza.

Rick was a volunteer fire fighter at the Forks Fire Station, but he also helped out at his family's church, which explained why he was so religious.

Back home, I'd only gone to church a few times with my family but it stopped when I was six. But I'd gone a couple times with Savannah when she had lived in Marquette with her biological father.

"Uh, what do you guys know about the Cullens?" I asked hesitantly.

Savannah's eyes flashed to my face, her gaze questioning.

"Dr. Cullen's family?" Rick asked, and I nodded. "Sure, everybody knows them. Dr. Cullen is a great man, he's good at his job."

"They seem nice," I persisted, hoping to get a little more information out of them. _Except for Edward_. I added internally. "Why do they keep to themselves...? They're obviously attractive enough to get by with just their looks."

Rick had stopped eating and stared at me from across the table, his dark brow furrowed.

"You should see the doctor," Tammy mumbled, her cheeks darkening slightly. Rick's blue eyes flew to her face in surprise which only made Tammy blush even further. "It's a good thing he's happily married, as am I," she added, trying to appease the clouded look that crossed her husband's face.

Savannah sighed heavily, shaking her head at me as she took another bite of her cheese pizza.

"So Cassie," Tammy said suddenly, trying to change the subject, "how was your first day? Do you like Forks?"

I forced out a reassuring smile. "It was great," I lied. "And I _love_ Forks. I'm happy it rains instead of snows during this part of the year."

I shouldn't have been able to lie so easily, it just wasn't healthy. Not for me, and not for anyone around me. I was like a plague or something; I knew that sooner or later, I would infect everyone and bring them down into my depressed state.

But Savannah wasn't convinced, she had seen me after school. She'd seen the emotional wreck that I'd been.

She pursed her lips and turned away from me to cut up Noah's pizza for him.

"Thank you for dinner," I mumbled as I stood up. "It was good."

"You haven't even finished your first slice." Tammy pointed to the half eaten slice with her fork. "Are you feeling okay?"

I shook my head, dumping the paper plate into the garbage. "I think I'm just going to take a hot shower and call my mom before I go to bed."

She nodded and wished me good night and I left to climb up the steep stairs and get into the shower.

The following day was better...and worse.

It was better because Savannah had explained to everyone that I wasn't a whore and I wasn't some drug user so most of the rumors stopped. She'd made my life so much easier by standing up for me. I knew what to expect when I went to school now, so that helped. People didn't look at me quite as much after the rumors had been proven wrong either, and I sat with a large group of Savannah's friends at lunch and I could even remember most of their names.

But it was worse because I hadn't slept at all last night. I couldn't get those dark, hypnotic eyes out of my head. I couldn't get _Edward_ out of my head, and I felt like a fool because of it. And yet, I had stayed up the entire night painting him. It was miserable because I had fallen asleep standing up during gym and had been knocked over several times by a silly volley ball. But most of all, it was worse because Edward wasn't in school. He wasn't sitting at his table with his family in the lunchroom, and he wasn't in Biology either.

I should've been relieved, but I wasn't. The fact that he wasn't in school angered me, and made him cowardly in my opinion. I wanted to know what the hell his problem was, and why he was all I could see when I sat down to paint. If he had at least shown up and apologized, then maybe he wouldn't be such a dick. But he didn't; instead, he'd skipped school altogether.

"Better day?" Savannah asked as we piled into the old red truck.

I shrugged. "I guess."

As soon as we got home, I went upstairs to work on my _still_ unfinished painting.

I skipped dinner that night, too exhausted to eat, and got in the shower to wash the paint from my body instead. After about fifteen minutes under the hot spray, I got out and dried off and dressed myself in pajamas.

My reflection in the mirror told me that Forks was doing bad things to my body and mind. My eyes were a bit puffy from lack of sleep, and I looked paler-if that was even possible.

With a sigh, I turned off the lights and headed back down the hall to my room.

"Is he the reason you aren't liking Forks?" Savannah asked as I walked into my bedroom.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard her voice, and my heart shot into over drive.

She was sitting on the foot of my bed, her eyes locked on the painting I'd been working on for the past two days.

It was still a diamond in the rough, but I was proud of how it was turning out. I had painted him how I saw him. Dark, angry, mysterious...perfect. His hair was a fiery reddish brown, and his skin held the faintest hint of peach mixed with white. But his eyes were where the emotions were. Two dark, hate-filled orbs in the center of white, framed with light lashes.

"There's so much pain and anger..." Savannah mumbled. She raised her hand to touch it, but stopped after remembering it was wet. "Why did you paint this beautiful boy as a monster?" she asked me curiously.

I crossed the room to sit beside her and cautiously lowered my head to her shoulder. "Because that's how he acted around me," I replied through a yawn. "Edward Cullen hates me, but ignores everyone else."

Savannah let out a soft sight and gently brushed her fingers through my damp hair. "Don't let whatever Edward says get to you."

"That's just it though, he doesn't say _anything_, he just glares. He doesn't know anything about me, yet he hates my guts." I sniffed back my frustrated tears. "Why does he hate me Savannah?"

"I don't know sweetie, normally he and the rest of his family don't even pay enough attention to people to hate them, let alone like them." She placed a quick kiss to my forehead and stood up. "You should sleep, you're tired."

I smiled halfheartedly and climbed up my mattress and under my Hello Kitty blanket. "Night."

"Goodnight." She flicked off the light and closed the door, leaving me alone in the darkness.

That night I was finally able to fall asleep and actually sleep through the entire night without tossing or turning in my bed.

The rest of the week was uneventful. I fell into the routine of going to my classes and by Friday I was even able to recognize a few people from the table I sat at in my classes.

Edward Cullen didn't come back to school the entire week, and left me with the only memory I could paint him from.

But I still watched the doors at lunch anxiously until the rest of his family entered the lunchroom without him. Savannah seemed to notice that I kept looking for him, but she never said anything, she just smiled sadly and made sure I was involved in the conversations when I finally gave up on looking for Edward. Mostly the group's discussions were centered around a beach trip Mike was putting together down at La Push. I was invited, but I wasn't allowed to decline because Savannah wanted me to meet a few guys down there and she just wouldn't take no for an answer.

My very first weekend in Forks passed quickly. Savannah and I stayed in and I worked on the painting of Edward that I had been obsessing over while she sat on my bed with a few bags of munchies and watched me work.

I talked to my mother a few times on the phone, along with my fourteen year old brother as well. I made sure they both knew I was happy, even though I wasn't completely satisfied with how my life was turning out.

The nights began to get colder, which began to worry me. I had left Marquette to _escape_ the snow, I didn't want to have to see more of it. The rain was better than the snow, though I preferred it to just be cold and not wet.

Monday morning I was greeted by strangers in the parking lot. I didn't know all their names; and by the look Savannah gave me, neither did she. But we waved politely and then split up for the day to go to our classes.

Mike and Eric took their seats on either side of me, both of them trying to capture my attention during English, but I just ignored them and doodled in my notebook.

"How come you aren't like some famous artist yet?" Eric asked.

I perked up, flattered by his words. 'I'm not really that good," I replied honestly, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks.

Mike scowled at him, obviously jealous that I was talking to Eric instead of him.

"Are you kidding? You're like the best I've ever seen."

Not even five minutes later, we were walking out of the class into damp air that was full of swirling flakes.

"Wow, it's snowing!" Mike exclaimed, his face lighting up.

And just like that, my good mood had shattered. "Ew."

He looked surprised. "You don't like the snow?"

I laughed humorlessly. "Have you ever been to Marquette before?" He shook his head. "It snows for nearly half the year, and it isn't light like this stuff either. It's all heavy and we get entire feet of it instead of mere inches."

Mike rolled his eyes with a boyish grin. And then a big ball of white mush nailed him in the back of his head. I quickly turned to see where it had come from, my senses sharpening in case of attack. Eric was laughing with his back to us, walking in the wrong direction of his class.

"Catcha later Swan," Mike called out as he ran after Eric with a small pile of half melted snow in his right hand.

By the time lunch rolled around, I was alert and on my toes watching for any attackers after Lauren had thrown a few snow balls at me between classes. I had gotten her back harder though. I mean really, what'd she expect? I _grew up_ throwing snow balls. My birthday was the coldest month of the year. I was like the winter ninja or something crazy like that.

Her numbers might've been greater, but I had _way_ more experience when it came to the snow.

She was afraid to go anywhere near me by the lunchtime, and I was glad. I was happy I had made her hair turn all frizzy and that her make-up ran down her cheeks because I'd gotten her in the face so many times.

Savannah laughed when she heard what I'd done. Mike and Eric caught up to us as we made our way into the cafeteria, both laughing hysterically as we got in line to buy food.

Out of habit, my eyes darted over to the table in the far corner, not expecting to see the boy I so desperately wanted to be sitting there. But he was, and I froze to recount the number.

Nope, I hadn't forgotten how to count. There were five people at that table today.

"Cassie? Hey, you alright?" Savannah asked worriedly, tugging on my sleeve.

I looked down at my feet, feeling my face starting to burn up. _I haven't done anything wrong_. I reminded myself confidently. _If anything, _he_ should be feeling this way_.

Raising my head to meet Savannah's curious eyes, I sucked in a deep breath. "I'm fine, just got a little dizzy there, that's all," I lied.

"What's wrong with Cassie?" Eric asked, his voice laced with unnecessary concern.

"Nothing," I repeated. "You guys go ahead, I'm just going to get a soda today."

Savannah's eyes narrowed disapprovingly. "You need to eat, you've been skipping out on meals all week."

I ignored her and crossed the room to the vending machine to get a Pepsi. I waited for them to get their food and then followed Savannah and the two boys with my can of pop to a table.

I sipped my soda slowly, running the tip of my finger along the can's rim while I did and tried to focus on what I was currently doing instead of the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach.

All week my anger had been building, each night I'd been haunted by those cold black eyes, and I blamed_ him_ for everything. And yet, I was too much of a coward now to look up and glare at Edward like he'd done to me. I actually had a reason, and yet I didn't bother to act on it.

_Just one look. If he's angry again I'll march right up to him and demand to know what his problem is. Screw being pleasant_.

But I kept my head down anyway, only looking with my eyes. None of them were looking at me, so I raised my head up a little higher to get a better look.

They were all laughing. Emmett, Jasper, and Edward all had their hair saturated with the slush from outside. Rosalie and Alice were leaning away from Emmett as he shook his dripping hair towards them. I could've _sworn_ that the shorter girl Alice had looked at me again, but here eyes left my face too quickly for me to be sure. It seemed like they were enjoying the snow like the other students.

But aside from their laughter, it looked like something was different with them. I couldn't quite pinpoint the difference to just one thing. I examined Edward the closest and the most carefully. His skin looked less pale, maybe flushed from the snow fight, and the bruise-like shadows beneath his eyes weren't as noticeable either. But there was something more...something I felt that I should've noticed right off the bat.

"Cassie? What are you staring at?" Savannah asked, her green eyes following mine.

At that moment, his eyes flickered over to meet mine.

I dropped my gaze to the table though, incase he was glaring again. But I was almost positive that in the small frame of time that our eyes had met, Edward hadn't glared at me or even looked at me in any unfriendly kind of way like he had in Biology last week. He just seemed curious, almost looking unsatisfied in some sort of way.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," she whispered in my ear, a hard edge in her tone.

Reluctantly, I lifted my eyes from my soda can to meet hers. "Does he still look angry?"

Her eyes left mine for a brief second, looking over the top of my head at the stranger who had damaged my fragile feelings, before finally returning to my face. "No, but he's still staring at you."

My hands began to tremble. "Please don't look at him," I pled. "I don't want him thinking I went home crying to your mom or something."

Savannah shrugged, her jaw tightening. "_I _don't want him to walk all over you."

I laughed shakily. "Who have I ever let walk over me?" I questioned.

She rolled her eyes, turning her focus on the sandwich she'd gotten. "Apparently Edward."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, my voice taking on a defensive tone.

"You've been off your game for quite awhile now. I noticed it after I drove us home that first day," she replied, taking a small bite.

I wanted to ask Savannah more questions, but Mike and Eric interrupted-they were planning some huge snow ball fight after school and both of them wanted Savannah and I on their teams since we'd grown up where snow was actually expected. I agreed, but my heart wasn't really in it.

I kept my eyes on my own table for the rest of the lunch hour even though I could feel Edward staring at me from across the room. My stomach was doing nervous flip-flops at the thought of having to sit next to him again in Biology.

"I'm going to head to class," I said abruptly, pushing my chair back as I stood.

Seven pairs of eyes flew to mine in confusion.

"Cassie, we still have another ten minutes before class starts," Savannah told me, reaching up to wrap her fingers around the sleeve of my rain coat, and gently tugged to try and get me to sit down next to her again.

"Oh I know," I lied quickly. _Shit, another ten fucking minutes? _"I have to go back to the truck to get a few things anyway." The last part actually wasn't a lie. I needed to grab my Biology book and sketch pad from the passenger seat.

She didn't really seem convinced, but everyone else was eating my lie up and Savannah knew better than to pick a fight with me when there was an audience. I always won.

With a reassuring smile, I grabbed my empty soda can and headed to the trash cans, silently cursing Edward Cullen and his effect on me as I went.

_What the hell am I supposed to do in an empty classroom for ten freaking minutes? _I thought with a low groan. _Especially knowing that _he_ could walk in any minute?_

"Stupid," I muttered as I spun around to face the doors, nearly walking straight into the pixie girl Alice.

We just _barely _avoided crashing into each other.

Heat rose to my cheeks as I realized that our almost collision was all my fault. "Shit I'm sorry," I said quickly. "Are you alright?"

Her eyes flashed with amusement as she dumped her untouched food into the garbage. "I'm fine," she replied in a high soprano voice. "Are you?"

_No. _But she wasn't asking how I felt, just about if I'd sprained my ankle or something.

"Yeah," I mumbled, forcing out a smile.

And that's when I finally realized the difference I'd been obsessing over.

_Her eyes! _My gaze flew to her table. _It's their _eyes_, that's what's different_.

Instead of the piercing black, their eyes were all a warm golden hue.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Alice was already leaving, a small dance in her step as she fled from the cafeteria.

Savannah had watched the whole exchange, a frown pulling at her full lips as she reached for her juice box.

I just shrugged indifferently and hurried out of the crowded lunchroom.

It had stopped snowing, but it was now raining instead.

"Great," I grumbled, pulling my hood up over my head before jogging out from under the shelter of the cafeteria's roof.

I sat in the cab of the truck for a few minutes, shivering as I pulled my iPod from my bag.

_How did their eyes change? _I wondered as I slipped in the ear buds. _Contacts maybe? _I shook my head, scrolling down to the song I wanted. _No, I can normally see contacts when I'm close enough. And I had nearly fell on that poor girl, so we'd definitely been close enough. There hadn't been contacts in her eyes_.

I could remember the angry boy from last week perfectly, but he wasn't like that today.

_You mean _hopefully_ he isn't like that today_. My thoughts corrected me.

I nodded, agreeing with myself, and slipped back out into the rain, my text book and drawing pad hidden safely in my book bag.

I didn't want to be the only one in Biology room when I got there, but I also didn't want to be out in the freezing rain either. So I hurried across campus and ran into the dry room.

_"I'll tell you a secretI hope you can keep itI hope you can keep my secret closeDon't tell a soulNow tell a soulI've been waiting just to see thisI've been waiting to let this out..."_

_(Watch Me Make You Hate Me __**by **__Call the Cops)_

"Miss Swan, you're early," Mr. Banner said in a frightened voice.

I pulled out one head phone to be polite and smiled. "Sorry if I startled you."

Mr. Banner had been walking around the room, distributing one microscope and a box of slides to each table. "Do you mind helping me set up since you're here early?"

Oh the joys of being a good person.

"No problem, what do you need me to do?" I placed my bag over the back of my chair and turned the volume down slightly.

He smiled hesitantly and handed me a stack of worksheets. "Do you mind passing these out for today's lab?"

"Not at all."

_It's better than having to deal with my thoughts_. I reminded myself as I took the papers from his hands and began dropping one packet off to every lab table.

"So where are you from Cassie?" Mr. Banner asked in a conversational tone.

"Um, Marquette," I replied cautiously. I knew he was only trying to be nice, but the last thing I needed was an over excited teacher.

"Where's that?" He seemed nervous about asking. Like he felt bad for non knowing where it was. It didn't really bother me, barely anyone knew of the U.P.

"It's in Michigan," I answered, fighting laughter. "In the U.P."

"Ah, so you're a yooper, eh?"

I didn't believe in the stereotype that came from being a yooper, mostly because it never applied to me. I didn't believe in hunting animals just for sport like most people did, or even to bring down the population.

"I've met with some of the teachers from there," Mr. Banner continued. "Such strange people..."

Other students were beginning to filter in so I hurriedly passed out the papers and sat back down in my seat, pulling my drawing pad out from my bag and putting away my iPod as I did so.

_Don't focus on the door_. I chanted repeatedly as I sketched a quick pattern on one side of an old drawing.

It was a hard thing to do, but I managed to keep my attention on the pattern.

I heard when the chair next to me scraped against the tile floor as it was moved, but even then I didn't look up.

"Hello," said a soft, musical voice.

My pencil fell from my clumsy fingers and my eyes flew to his in shock. He still sat as far away from me as the table would allow, but he'd angled his chair towards me this time. His hair was dripping wet from the rain, but still perfectly disheveled. Surprisingly, he didn't strike me as mad. In fact, his face was open and friendly, but his strange colored eyes were still guarded.

"My name is Edward Cullen," he continued when I didn't respond. "I'm sorry I didn't get to introduce myself last week. You must be Cassie Swan."

_He knows my name? _I stared into his tawny eyes, confused and slightly dazzled. _Did I make the whole thing up?_

"You were gone," was all I managed to say.

"Family emergency." His tone was clipped, making his reply sound rehearsed.

"Bull shit," I muttered to myself, refocusing on my sketch. The pattern had somehow transformed into some kind of plant made up of tiny detailed drawings.

"Excuse me?" he asked, sounding amused by my bad language.

I glanced back over at him, and then back at my drawing. "Nothing."

"If you say so." He let it drop.

Thankfully, Mr. Banner started the class. I listened carefully as he explained the lab we would be doing. The slides in our boxes were all out of order and we had to separate them into the phases of mitosis with our lab partners and then label them correctly on our worksheets. We couldn't use our books-though I knew some people would-and he'd be coming around to check in a half hour or so.

"Get started," he commanded, clapping his hands together excitedly.

I rolled my eyes at his enthusiasm.

"Ladies first, partner?" Edward asked.

I looked up to find him smiling a crooked smile so breathtaking I could only stare like an idiot. The anger I felt towards him had completely dissolved, which worried me.

_Maybe I _am_ off my game a little bit_.

"Or I could start if you want." His smile faded.

"No, I can do it," I said, still half engrossed in my thoughts.

I'd already done this lab before, so I knew what I was looking for, and decided to show off a tiny bit.

I carefully placed the slide under the microscope and rose up a little from my chair to study it.

"Prophase," I said confidently, reaching to remove the slide.

"Do you mind if I look?" He wasn't really asking my permission since he quickly stopped my hand with his own. His skin was ice-cold against my warm flesh, and my hand stung when he touched me, like some kind of electrical current had passed through from him to me.

I nearly jumped out of my seat at the contact, and I could've sworn I saw Edward jump slightly as well.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, releasing my hand and pulling back immediately. However, he still reached for the microscope. He examined the slide for an even shorter time than I had. "Prophase," he agreed, writing it down neatly in the first space on our worksheet. I watched his long pale fingers as they held the pencil delicately, like it was the most fragile thing in the world, and wondered why he didn't just hold the damn thing like everyone else did.

He swiftly switched out the slides and then peeked into the microscope. "Anaphase," he murmured, his voice like velvet, as he wrote it down.

"May I?"

He grinned and pushed the microscope towards me.

I looked into the eyepiece, hoping to whatever God there was that I would be given the chance to prove him wrong. But disappointment washed over me when I realized he was right.

"Slide three?" I held my hand out blindly, waiting.

Being careful not to touch me, he dropped the slide in my palm.

"Interphase," I said, passing him the microscope before he could ask.

A small smile pulled at the corners of his flawless lips as he peeked at the slide and then wrote down the answer I'd given him in a script that made my toes curl.

We'd finished before anyone else in the class had even come close. Mike and his partner kept comparing the same two slides over and over again, looking more and more confused by the second, and the group beside us had their book open beneath their table.

I glanced up when I felt _his_ eyes on me, to find the same frustrated look on his face that seemed to _always_ be there now. It wasn't an angry look, it just made it seem like I wasn't meeting some expectation he had or something.

"Did you get contacts?" I blurted out, still confused by the drastic change in his eye color.

He cocked his head to one side slightly, puzzled by my unexpected word vomit. "No."

"There's something different about your eyes..." I trailed off, hoping that he would jump in and explain things but he didn't. He just shrugged indifferently and looked out the window.

"So Edward, didn't you think it would've been nice for Cassie to have gotten a chance with the microscope?" I nearly flew right off my chair from the suddenness of Mr. Banner's voice.

"Actually she identified three out of the five," Edward replied, sounding uninterested.

"Have you done this lab before?" he asked me.

I gave him a small smile and nodded. "Not with the onion root though."

His thick eyebrows rose in surprise. "Whitefish blastula?" he guessed.

"Yeah."

"Were you in some kind of advanced placement program back in your home town?"

"I was taking college level Biology if that's what you're asking," I replied, my cheeks bursting into hot flames. Edward seemed to shy away from me when I blushed.

"Then I guess it's a good thing you and Edward are lab partners then." He mumbled something else under his breath that I didn't quite catch and then left to go check on the other students.

After I was sure he was gone, I flipped to a blank page and began to draw the outline of Edward's frame as he sat hunched over our lab table, his face resting on in his palm with the other hand balled up in a tight fist on his leg.

"It's a shame the snow melted, isn't it?" Edward asked, his eyes following the drops of rain as they rolled down the glass.

"Not really," I answered as I lazily began to fill in the little details on my sketch of him.

"Do you not like the cold?"

"No I love it. I'm just not a big fan of snow and rain."

"Your friend, Savannah right?" He peeked back at me and I nodded. "Why did you come to live with her?"

No one had asked me that question so openly. Eric and Mike had both hinted at it, and Lauren had some up with rumors, but no one really asked for it in the form of a demand like he did.

I set down my pencil and slowly lifted my eyes to meet his. "It's pretty complicated."

"I'm sure I can keep up," he pressed.

_Should I tell him? _I wondered as my thoughts snapped back to the day he'd been a total dick to me. I normally didn't open up to people, not even that much to Savannah. But for some strange reason I wanted to explain everything to someone and get it off my chest. And not just anyone, I wanted to tell Edward Cullen.

"My mother is getting married in the spring," I whispered, my eyes searching to make sure no one was listening.

"That doesn't sound very complex," he disagreed. "Lots of people get remarried."

I shook my head and quickly closed my sketch pad. "She isn't getting _re_married, this is her first time," I explained.

"So she's marrying your father." It was a question.

I scowled at the mention of my father, which seemed to confuse Edward even further. "No, I'm not on speaking terms with my father," I replied, my jaw tight.

"You're right, this is kind of complicated."

I grimaced. "Told you so."

"I still want to know though."

_And I want to tell you_. I replied internally. _But_ why_ do I?_

"Well Savannah and I have been best friends since the first grade; we did everything together. A few years back she came here to live with her mom and new little brother and left me behind in Marquette. I didn't understand how she could just up and leave so easily, and I was young so I had thought it was because of me..." I cut off my rambling and decided to stick to the story. "It took some time but I finally found a group of trustworthy friends by freshman year, but last summer my mother's boyfriend of five years finally proposed."

"And you don't like him...?" he asked when I stopped talking.

"Allan's fine, he's nearly eleven years older than my mom, but he's nice." I bit my lip and began drawing in the margins of our worksheet. I couldn't stand to look Edward in the eyes any longer. he kept looking at me like my life was important to him, even though it wasn't to me.

"That still doesn't really explain how you ended up _here_ of all places," Edward murmured, his velvety soft voice laced with frustration.

I let out a small sigh and pressed the lead of my pencil firmer into the paper. "Allan's kids are who I don't get along with," I continued. "Our maturity levels are just too different and I couldn't stand to be around them more than I had to be. But with my mother and him getting married... Well, we would move into his house and I just couldn't. I didn't want to have to go to the same school as them, and I refused to have to leave every one of my new friends behind." I glanced up at him, smiling halfheartedly. "You probably think I'm selfish, but really I'm not. Me leaving was the best thing I could've done for my mother."

His eyebrow knit together in confusion. "She's your mother, I'm sure she misses you and loves you."

I shook my head sadly and continued to draw abstract images along the margins. "That's just it though, she doesn't. She's told me time and time again how different I am, and how depressed I seem to the rest of the family," I paused to collect my thoughts, and then looked around at the people surrounding us again.

"No one's listening Cassie," Edward told me quietly, his expression turning sympathetic.

"I left to keep my mother happy," I mumbled. "She wanted a fresh start at life, and I didn't. So I came here to live with Savannah since she was my only option." I realized then that I could've just said that from the very beginning without having to bear my soul, and ducked my head in embarrassment.

"What would make you so unhappy?" he wondered aloud.

I shrugged, deciding that I'd said enough for one day. For one lifetime actually. I couldn't remember if I'd ever talked so much in my entire life.

"Am I annoying you?" he asked, sounding amused.

"I'm not used to speaking so much, normally people don't ask questions about me and I just go on with my life and so do they," I admitted.

"Does it bother you that I'm interested in how you got here?"

Did it? I honestly didn't know for sure.

"Nobody ever has been so I can't say for sure how I feel." That seemed like a safe answer, right?

"Did you move here to keep _you_ happy?" Edward questioned, his eyes following the lines my pencil created.

"That's part of the reason," I answered.

"But you're _not_ happy."

_I'm never truly happy_. I thought dryly.

"No answer?" He laughed softly and the sound thrilled me like it shouldn't.

"It wasn't a question," I answered flatly.

He just laughed again and leaned back away from me, his eyes still following the designs I made.

"Can I ask _you_ a question?" I asked, trying to ignore the way his hand tensed into tight fists again.

"That depends," he replied cautiously.

"It's a simply question, nothing _too_ personal like yours was," I told him reassuringly.

His lips twitched in response and he nodded his head in approval.

I stopped drawing and lifted my head up to look at him. "Why did you ask me about why I came here? I mean, why do you care?"

The gold in his eyes blazed with emotion, but his face remained perfectly calm. "I don't really know," he admitted. "Maybe it's because your a little difficult for me to read."

I laughed once without humor and returned to our worksheet. "Funny, Savannah thinks of me as an open book." She could tell when things weren't going well for me even over a text message or a simple phone call.

Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I left the papers alone and turned to pay attention, relief coursing through me. I couldn't believe that I had just explained my boring ass life to this gorgeous, bizarre boy who may or may not totally hate me. He'd seemed interested in our conversation, but he'd moved away from me again to grip the edge of the granite table top in his hands again.

When the bell finally rang, Edward left just as swiftly and gracefully as he had last Monday, obviously desperate to leave the classroom.

Mike rushed to my side and picked up all of my books for me and put them into my bag.

"Cullen seemed friendly today," he commented as we slipped on our rain coats. Something told me he wasn't happy about it.

I shrugged indifferently. "Yeah I guess."

By the end of the day, the rain had quieted down to only a slight drizzle, but all of the snow had been washed away.

"How was Edward today?" Savannah asked as we walked across the lot to the truck.

"He was nice I guess. We talked a little bit," I replied as we quickly climbed up into the cab.

"Wait? He talked to you?" She turned on the heater and we both pulled our hoods down and fluffed our hair out so that we would be dry when we made it home.

"Well, he asked the questions I mostly just answered." _Is it weird for him to talk?_

Savannah shrugged and pulled out of the space, her green eyes tightening as we passed Edward getting into a silver Volvo with his family. "I don't trust him Cassie..."

"Maybe he was just PMSing or something last week," I offered. But I knew it wasn't true, he was still a bit cold in Biology.

Savannah seemed to realize this too, but she agreed anyway. "Maybe."

* * *

**So? What'd you think? Interested in reading more? Leave me a review and I'll see what I can do.**

**Kat :)**


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